X-Men Earth: Yet Another Doomsday
by Kuzcopia
Summary: The X-Men have reorganized, forming new teams to tackle old problems in much better ways, and there is no more common a problem than maniacal terrorists threatening to destroy the world. Rejects from A.I.M and Hydra have stockpiled nuclear ordinance all over the world, and it is up to Storm to lead her newly assembled team of X-men to disarm and neutralize them.
1. Chapter 1 - Meet the Team

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

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**PART 1:** Meet the Team

"So. I am very aware of what you might be thinking right about now, as you look around the room at who your teammates are." Henry McCoy often had a speech to give as a greeting, instead of simply saying hello. Even more often, he would be hanging upside down from the ceiling while he talked. "I imagine you are asking yourselves whether we have quite arbitrarily selected your names out of a hat."

"No way. Can you do telepathy now, too, Hank?" Bobby asked, and as could be expected, he was the only one leaning back onto his chair. Casual and informal as ever.

Hank, hanging down above the large circular table, in the middle of them all, adjusted his glasses and showed his usual grin.

"Not quite yet, Iceman. And I would ask we stick with our codenames from here on out. Rest assured that this team has been assembled quite carefully and intently to cover every tactical advantage that can possibly be achieved. After all, our missions will be involving stakes of the most serious, and probably dramatic, variety."

"Hey, I'm not gonna complain that you want to put me in an all-women team," said Bobby, the Iceman, managing to wink, once, in every direction.

"Same," said Xi'an, Karma, smiling suggestively. She was sitting up straight with hands on her legs.

"Guys, can we not make this awkward?" Asked Hisako, Armor, with her hands resting comfortably on the table.

"Hear hear," added the Phoenix, Rachel Summers. She had her legs crossed, and her arms crossed on top of them. She was tapping an impatient finger. "I don't like seeing the kids here."

"Hey," Hisako protested, but Beast cut her off.

"My dear, Armor is virtually untouchable by anything living in the universe, let alone on our earth. And the same can be said about Dust." He nodded kindly towards the niqāb wearing young woman, Sooraya, and her eyes blinked in gratitude. "They are very far from the position of first-year juniors, but nor should they be sent into dangerous missions on their own. Every one of us started somewhere."

"And every one of us ended up dealing with tragedy," Rachel argued.

Ororo Monroe opened her eyes to face the reluctant telepath, meeting her with an implacable expression. She felt all eyes on her, and she was ready for it.

"They have already started somewhere, and dealt with tragedy. They have proven themselves in numerous instances. They are on the team. We will make sure nothing happens to them, and they will make sure nothing happens to us, and together, we will make sure nothing happens to our world. We are to be called X-Men Earth, and we are a very important part of a joint project between mutants and humans, headed by the X-Men and the Avengers. X-Men Earth will deal with situations that put the planet in danger, preferably before they happen."

"That would be nice," said Amara, Magma, with a scoff. "And we already have a mission?"

"Indeed," Ororo said with a nod. "Beast, if you would continue. And try to stay on subject, will you?" Then she closed her eyes.

Karma and Phoenix for telepathy and telekinesis. Magma and Storm for unbridled powerful control over nature. Armor and Dust together for the perfect defense. And Iceman as the ever-dependable super-power that can adapt to any situation and need. Also, for the first time ever, they would be working with a dedicated operator working communications and support, which was Beast. Them and every one else out doing field missions, since Beast was now the resident support for every X-Men team, and would not be seeing action for the foreseeable future. This would allow Henry to be a more reliable teacher, which in Ororo's opinion, was his greatest responsibility.

"K.I.A. We do not yet know what it stands for, but we know enough to be particularly concerned. We know they are the unholy alliance between remnants of a major A.I.M cell and what was left of the Eastern quadrant of Hydra after the last S.H.I.E.L.D cleanup. We know they have nuclear warheads in their possession and we have ascertained the location of several stocks of them. Our first strike should go without incident, by which I mean we will catch them off-guard. Once we have revealed our knowledge and intentions, however, we should expect the succeeding strikes to become increasingly more difficult."

Bobby whistled. "Nukes being stockpiled by suicidal maniacs. Nice," he said sarcastically.

"A.I.M? Hydra?" Rachel frowned. "This sounds like Avengers business."

"It's Earth business, my dear, which makes it ours. Rest assured, however, that Avengers Earth will be doing their part. It is our collaborative goal to disarm the entire organization completely, and should the opportunity present itself, dismantle the whole business while we're at it."

"We do not know what they're planning to do with the bombs?" Xi'an asked.

"Indeed we do not," Henry admitted.

"How many places are we hitting?" Rachel asked.

"Five," said Ororo, opening her eyes again, and summoning their attention. "And we are leaving right now. I will tell you what we know of their defenses and explain our plan of attack in the time we have between assaults. As far as this mission is concerned, we cannot be pulling punches, and we cannot be taking risks. This means that, regrettably, there will be some tolerance for the loss of life."

Sooraya shuffled somewhat. "You mean…we are supposed to kill them?" she asked, worried.

"It is a possibility," Ororo said, not without compassion. "As always, X-Men avoid taking life as much as possible. But that is what it means to bear this responsibility, sometimes. If the situation is dire, and your life is on the line, or worst, the life of another, you need to be able to do what you have to do."

It wasn't something Charles would be very appreciative of, but Charles was an idealist beyond anything Ororo had ever seen, or would ever see again. She turned her white eyes to Dust.

"Is that a problem? I can guarantee that you will not need to do it, but I cannot guarantee that you will not see it happen."

"I…"

"I have to say, this honesty is very refreshing," Rachel pointed out, with a bit of compassion, and Storm nodded.

"This team will have no lies," Ororo stated, as a demand. "And no secrets. They are always the bane that divides us, and leads to the worst results. I do not want us to fail the mission, or each other. I can promise you I have no intention for us to go about committing unwanted murder. It would make me supremely happy to complete every mission with zero causalities, and this one is no exception. That alone would be the best statement we can make regarding our efficacy. But this mission, as Beast said, is very difficult, and the risks are high."

"Yes," Sooraya agreed, breathing deeply. "Yes, you are right. We have to succeed. It will be my honor to do my part."

Ororo smiled at her and prolonged that to everyone. "Let us go, then. We shall show these despicable men that the time when they were allowed to carry out such plans is behind us."

"Hey now, what if they're women?" Bobby asked, and they all turned evil eyes towards him. "I'm just saying! Pretty sexist to assume they're all evil men, isn't it?"

"Shut up, Bobby" said three of them in a chorus, and the rest giggled.

Iceman pouted and crossed his arms. "Well. This is starting out just great," he complained.

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**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_Starting off with the introductions. What do you think of the team? Interesting? Powerful? Would you like to see them in an actual run? Let me know your thoughts!_


	2. Chapter 2 - First Strike

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

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**PART 2:** First Strike

The blackbird was flying fast, and Ororo was sitting straight, watching the skies rushing by at great speeds.

Ororo bit her lip, remembering how her marriage had come to an end. The rift had been caused by her putting the X-Men and her fellow mutants ahead of Wakanda and its people. She did not regret doing it, but she sure regretted that it had happened.

When she looked around the ship, she could mostly remember the battles she and the rest of her team had suffered together, and primarily the ones they had been in opposition. Amara had killed Sooraya in the past, and heavily damaged Xi'an, and Sooraya had hurt Amara in return. Rachel, too, had been through a lot. Bobby, who was an X-Men since the very beginning, when the name meant nothing, had seen the most. Been through the most. She had great respect for his attitude which so weathered all the tragedies and heartbreaks they suffered. All the betrayals.

It seemed like the X-Men spent more time fighting each other than anyone else, and more than anything, Ororo wanted that to change. She would make sure that it did.

"So we going in hard or what?" Bobby asked, punching fists with an excited grin. "Not every day I get to freeze some nukes."

Ororo looked over at him, trying not lot let his smile infect her. She closed her eyes and began to explain, figuring the timing was good.

"We will strike the first base together. It is our goal to accomplish the mission without alerting our enemies, but if we fail on that front, then we will have to split up and go after the other bases as fast as we can. In that situation, we shall be dropping all caution."

"So stealth at first," Amara repeated, calmly. "Do we have a plan?"

"Quite assuredly," Henry said, in all their earpieces. "Our first target lies at a location as hazardous as it is overlooked! The Karakum desert," he announced, as if that was some interesting piece of trivia. "We timed the operation to take place during the night. Storm shall kick up a sandstorm, and under its cover, Karma, Phoenix, and Dust will make their way into the base. In case there is a need, they will request for further diversionary tactics, which shall be provided by Iceman, Armor, and Magma. Otherwise, they shall be defending the blackbird with their lives!"

"Do we know where we're going?" Rachel asked, ignoring the silly dramatic tone that Beast had injected at the end.

"I'm afraid not, my dear." They couldn't see them, but Ororo knew he was adjusting the spectacles he wore even though he didn't need them. "You'll have to find out on site. I trust your abilities will come in handy."

"Storm, you will stay in the ship and work the storm?" Amara asked. "I would like you to be with us."

Ororo wasn't particularly happy about that either, but the plan was sound, and the best that they could implement. "As soon as our cover becomes worthless, I shall indeed join you. Without hesitation. Regardless of that, we'll be in contact."

"Don't worry, mom, I'm sure we'll be fine," Bobby said, trying to lighten up the mood. She sighed and eyed him judgingly, but she knew him too well to think he was taking the mission lightly.

"The more bases we can hit without the others finding out, the better. Keep your focus and do this right. Let us show everyone who doubts us that they are wrong," Ororo told them.

"People doubt us?" Asked Hisako, surprised.

"People always doubt you," Xi'an said, helpfully. "How else to know you have the potential to do great? Great's never expected."

Amara chuckled in agreement and held up a hand to Xi'an. Without putting much energy into it, she met it and they high-fived.

"No wonder they put you as a teacher, Shian. You know what to say!" Amara said proudly.

"Shee-ahn," Xi'an corrected.

"That is what I said," Amara said, happily. "Are we there yet?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," answered Henry. "I shall go silent so you girls can focus properly. Best of luck!"

"I'm here, too," Bobby pointed out, disheartened, and making Hisako and Amara giggle.

The blackbird started heading down, and Storm stood up, taking a deep breath. When she blew it out, her eyes shone with the power of the Earth. Ororo was Storm, the ultimate connection to nature's respiratory system. She could sense its every pulsing breath, and she could stimulate it.

Raising her hands, Storm opened her arms, and looked up. Her eyes were open, but she was not processing anything that they were seeing. All her senses were outside of the blackbird, in contact with everything that might be considered part of the weather.

"Let the winds rage," she said, feeling a jolt in her chest, and the blackbird shook with a sudden gust of wind.

"Whoah," complained someone.

"Here we go," said another, excited.

"Let the sands lift and blow across our foes. They will know we are coming, but not believe it." Ororo felt the blackbird landing, and its ramp opened up, lowering down onto the ground. "Go, X-Men. I will be listening."

Ororo was experienced enough that she could keep an ear out while still directing the whims of nature. Bobby took charge of his two, and Rachel of hers, and they all disembarked from the blackbird, stepping out onto the open air.

Only it wasn't open at all, it was drowned in whirl-winding sands. They were tumultuous and rampaging, just as they would be during a real sandstorm, one which would be very much like so many others that their enemies would have experienced. And yet, hers was not like them at all.

Storm's eyes shone, and she then noticed how her feet were not in contact with the ground. As usual, she had reflexively caused the winds to lift her up a foot or two, and hold her at a hover.

It would be hard to maintain that for what could be an hour, but at the same time, it was much harder to start a storm than it was to keep it stirred.

"We're just outside," said Bobby's voice in her ear. "We'll be standing by, alright? Just let us know if you need help."

"We'll be fine," said Rachel. "We can see their facility. We'll be at their gate in roughly twenty minutes. Storm, the sand's more concentrated where we are than where they are. Relocate it a little bit, if you can."

"Heading?" Ororo asked, masking the effort in her voice by speaking slowly.

"I don't - west?" Rachel tried.

"West," Sooraya confirmed.

"Very well," Ororo said, and instinctually moved her arms a little bit, and her body, floating in the air to turn to the side by a short angle. The winds protested, but obeyed, as they always did.

In the midst of her effort to stay concentrated and focused, the time flew.

"Alright," Rachel whispered. "Karma, you take the man on the left, I'll take the two on the right."

"I can take two as well," Karma said, a bit defensively.

"I'll remember that next time," Rachel argued. "On three. Two. One."

Silence, and Ororo wondered if she was about to hear gunshots and bullets, and requests for backup, but instead, Rachel's whisper came in leveled and a bit casual.

"Alright, I know where they're storing the bombs. Three different places, but one of them's being armed at a fourth location. I'll pass it on to everyone. Karma?"

"Ali is about to end his shift. I can stay with him and try and go for the fourth - no one will suspect him," Xi'an proposed.

"Can you move while doing that or do you need to stay here?" Rachel asked.

Karma's silence was telling. She didn't like that Rachel had to ask. "I can move just fine," she stated dryly.

Xi'an was the inferior telepath, when compared to Rachel, but she had the specific talent for possessing a person's mind. It was easier for her to do that than for any other telepath on Earth, but it came with the risk of her becoming like the person she possessed if she stayed in one mind for too long. The level of that risk had been heavily decreased by her many years of practice, but it was still not negligible.

"Okay, I'll erase the memories of my two. Stay with your guy, and when his replacement comes on, I'll make them all blind to us, and we'll go in. We'll go after the three locations while you guide your guy to the fourth."

"Sounds good," Xi'an agreed, with a bit of effort to her voice.

Ororo smiled, even amidst her heavy concentration. She was happy to see how well they were doing, and was starting to get a good feeling about the team.

"Going well so far," Hisako said, content.

"Never say that," Bobby and Amara said together, and then they chuckled at the same time, too. "No, but seriously, never say stuff that's going to jinx everything," Bobby added.

Ororo frowned, in agreement. Even though there was always a joviality to him, Bobby was often right with such warnings. She shouldn't let her guard down. Ororo took a breath and focused further, deciding to worsen the storm on the opposite side of the base. If there were any suspicions about the nature of the sandstorm, they might take them in that direction.

Other than that, she simply continued to listen.

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**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_And so the mission is underway. I know the parts are short but I post them every day. Check back tomorrow for when things go awry :O_


	3. Chapter 3 - Thanks, Stark

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

* * *

**PART 3:** Thanks, Stark.

A drop of sweat crawled down Ororo's forehead, slowly, but she focused on taking a breath instead. She needed to make sure her strength and concentration did not diminish.

"That's all the bombs in the second location. Only one missing," Rachel reported using whispers. "Karma?"

"Ali is talking with the guard, but I am not finding a good opportunity to attack. However, they are friends, it's only a matter of time before I get a chance."

"Okay then. Sooraya, doing okay?" Rachel asked.

No reply came back, so she must have replied with only a nod.

"By the way, how do we stop these guys from knowing we're tampering with the bombs? Even if we can get all of them and leave without being noticed, they'll find out eventually," Rachel pointed out.

"Beast will know if they do," Ororo said, again managing to hide her effort by using a pondering tone. "If they only find out tomorrow, it will be too late to alert the others."

"Actually, I'm afraid it seems Stark's team has failed to keep their attack appropriately covert," Henry cut in. "K.I.A. as a whole is now alerted, or at least, that is what I have to assume since our dear base commander has grown suspicious of the sandstorm, all of a sudden, and is right now sending out a reconnaissance patrol. Unless my Arabic fails me, I do believe he has chosen a route that will lead them to find the Blackbird."

"They will find fire is what they will find," Amara promised, and Ororo unlinked her mind from Nature.

Ororo knew her eyes lost her glow, and resumed a more natural look, but she didn't stop to contemplate it. Stark and his Avengers Earth had failed, as far as stealth was concerned. That meant a necessary change in their plans.

"They will be sending guards to cover for the bombs. Phoenix, Karma, make your moves and try to take them now as soon as possible. Iceman, Magma and Armor, you know what to do."

"We will sing them a song, a song of ice and fire," Bobby joked, and Amara laughed at that.

"Nice reference, Iceman!" she said.

"Thank you, thought of it on the ship," Bobby commented, "been waiting for the right time, you know?"

"And what about you?" Asked Hisako, curious.

Ororo lifted her body higher. "I will go around your confrontation and attack the base from another angle. Stay focused, X-Men, and watch out for each other. Phoenix, I am on the way."

"Storm is coming," Bobby threw in, under a held back chuckle.

Storm didn't feel the need to chastise him because he wasn't actually throwing off communication. Iceman knew what he was doing, as much as people often liked to forget it. Unlike people like spider-man, he knew how to banter without causing interference.

"The Avengers have been successful in clearing the first base," Henry cut in again. "I have been told we should, and I quote, kick our timetable into high gear."

Storm scoffed. She had already left the blackbird, and her eyes were glowing, and the wind was carrying her as fast as it could. "Tell them to rest assured that X-Men Earth shall compensate for their mistake. You can likewise quote that."

Iceman, Amara, and Phoenix snickered at that, but Storm did not mean it as a joke. She was annoyed, because now, her team was in more danger than it needed to be in, and it was through no fault of their own. Phoenix had great combat potential, but that of Dust was dependent on what forces the base had to engage them with. And in fact, within minutes, her communication systems began to fill with combat chatter.

"I managed to knock him out, but he sounded the alarm," Xi'an reported, and Ororo could actually hear the blaring sirens. "I'm going for the bomb with Ali!"

"Dust, watch our blind spots, I'm going to blast through this door," said Rachel, and then Ororo heard metal breaking and crashing, as well as threatening yelling coming from the soldiers.

"Alright, here they come. I'll go first," said Bobby.

"If you insist," Amara said, and Ororo heard vehicles crashing or otherwise capsizing, and panicked yells of the soldiers. Gunshots began to fill the airwaves, coming from a variety of sources, but it was all muffled under the beating of the winds enveloping her.

There had been a time where Ororo had abandoned the garbs that had labeled her a goddess, but for the sake of that mission, and of giving the right impression, she was wearing them again. Though she had kept her hair short, her silver robes and uniquely designed cape were billowing, white and visible to any who would seek to find it.

"I got it!" Xi'An reported. "And we're inside the final room. Dust, hurry."

"Gaaaahh," Rachel yelled, pushing her telekinetic abilities, "what are these weapons?! Why do they hurt so much?"

"I am almost there," Ororo reported. "Finish the mission and then exit. Where are you located?"

"East," said Sooraya, not waiting this time, and Ororo nodded.

Meanwhile, Bobby and Amara were having a good time, while Hisako sounded very distressed. "These are lasers! My armor doesn't work against lasers!" Hisako protested

"Get back to the ship," Ororo commanded. "Protect it if they use any explosives. Those will be projectiles."

"Okay!" Hisako yelled, a bit too excited, and hopefully ran off to do just that.

"I am done," said Sooraya.

"Time to go!" Xi'An demanded.

Rachel offered no complaints whatsoever. "Is there another exit?"

"No!" Xi'An said.

"I will go and flank them. Give me a few seconds," Sooraya proposed.

"What?" Rachel reacted, worried. "No, wait!"

But Sooraya had clearly taken action already. Ororo frowned and managed to speed up. Above her, the skies darkened with clouds. They were moody and belligerent clouds that were already fighting each other.

"We took care of all these guys. Do we go and assist?" Bobby asked, and Ororo thought about it, but neither of them could move particularly fast. On the other hand, they were right next to the Blackbird.

"Go back to the blackbird and come extract us," Ororo ordered.

"Okay!" Said Amara, just as Rachel was voicing a surprised gasp.

"Whoah, alright!" Rachel added, impressed.

Ororo heard rumbling and things breaking, and could only guess that Rachel had unleashed a telekinetic attack. By that time, Ororo could see the base already.

"You're a badass, Dust," Rachel conceded. "Alright, I'll blast us a hole out of here, follow me."

_I will call the attention of the soldiers,_ Ororo thought as she finally arrived within striking distance. The base consisted of three large buildings connected together by surface tunnels made of glass and steel. It had gates surrounding it, covered with lights, and they were all on. Ororo stopped in mid-air, and at least four spotlights turned to find her.

_Yes, focus on me,_ she thought.

The skies rumbled, and lightning struck at all the spotlights, shattering them and causing everyone nearby to scream. Laser fire came after her, but the wind was already carrying her aside. A couple of rockets came flying to catch her, but the winds made them lose their heading and then their power, and meanwhile, rain started to violently pour over that side of the base.

"The blackbird will be there in a few seconds!" Henry reported in her ear. Ororo felt her short hair lifting with the static, and at the same time, dancing to the winds around her, much like her cape was doing. A particularly large projectile was fired from one of the buildings, and it almost hit her. The winds diverted it enough that it crossed by her hip just a couple of feet away.

_Goddess,_ Ororo thought, wincing with relief. Then she frowned with wrath and the source of that weapon received a shower of lightning for the trouble. Something exploded, and flames burst out, and she was content to then see Rachel flying out with Sooraya and Xi'An well held in her telekinetic aura. Carrying them slowed her down somewhat, but not too much.

Storm waved her arms, commanding the winds to battle each other and form a whirlwind. That lifted a screen of sand that blocked all vision of the three. More laser fire and projectiles came to get them, but the strong winds, and the lack of visibility from the lifted sand, made it almost impossible to hit them.

It was at that point that Ororo heard the Blackbird's engines, and a few seconds later, they were all getting on board. Between the shields and the targeting system, it was a pretty safe boarding.

"Nice flying," Ororo said.

"Well, it is easier when I can control it like a video game," Henry said. "Mission accomplished, then?"

Ororo glanced over at Rachel and Xi'An, and they both nodded at her. She noticed they had experienced some close calls with the laser fire - Sooraya and Rachel had some portions of their uniforms charred - and Rachel had a bruise on her neck. Still, they didn't look that shaken or otherwise intimidated by the ordeal.

That was to be expected, they had all been through so much worse.

"Yes. Take us to our next target, and have the other Blackbird meet us there." Ororo faced them grimly, and yet confidently. "After we take care of the second base, we will be splitting up. It is a race against time, now, X-Men, and the trigger finger of psychopaths. We must outrun them all, and we will do so using overwhelming force. How deep are you in their systems, Beast?"

"Not at all. I can track their frequencies, and consequentially, I am able catch their radio communications, but I fear that **_is_** about all that I can achieve. I can tell you that every base is enhancing its defenses, and something is to be said about them sending out a call for "contractors". Every base commander is calling for these such individuals, and in my humbles opinion, that can only really mean one thing."

Ororo scowled hard. _Super powered,_ she realized, and faced her team seriously. _Yes, this was by far the easiest part of this mission, but I will not let it turn into a debacle._

"You think we'll see anyone we know?" Bobby asked, having also figured it out. "I'm willing to bet Mystique will show up. She likes being a mercenary. Of course, she'll just as likely steal one of the nukes from under everyone's noses."

Ororo crossed her arms and faced her team. "This is good. If they have something to rely on, then they will be less keen to trigger the bombs before we can get to them. Still, be ready for anything, X-Men. I know this is often the case, but let's not underestimate how many lives depend on us to succeed."

Ororo scanned the faces of her team and, all and all, liked the look of them. They were accustomed to the pressure, and at the same time, did not take it lightly. Again, she got a good feeling about them.

Regardless of that, Ororo was undoubtedly tense.

* * *

**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_Noo, those dang avengers blew it! Now, with K.I.A. preparing against Storm's X-Men, what dangers will come their way!  
Maybe a pretty big green dragon from the silver age? Maybe a five guys who can become one? Who knows! Check back next part as our team strikes at a base in China._


	4. Chapter 4 - Second Strike

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

* * *

**PART 4:** Second Strike.

Henry cleared his throat. "Quite honestly, it would be embarrassing for me to try and pronounce the specific region in question, so let us simply say China. We are heading to a vast forestland, and if my footage is to be believed, our unfortunate alliance of terrorists have decided to erect quite a large secret base."

"Can your footage be believed?" Bobby asked, smiling.

"You are about to find out, Iceman," Henry retorted. "The good news is that they seem to still be waiting on their contractors to arrive, whoever they are. We might beat them to it."

"Do not count on it," Ororo immediately said. "We are going in violently. The blackbird will stop over the base, and we will drop down. Magma, Phoenix and Karma will locate the bombs and disable them. Everyone else will run interference with the rest of the base. Iceman with Armor, protect each other from the weapons that might hurt you. Dust."

Sooraya turned her eyes towards Ororo, who smiled kindly at her. "We shall wreak great havoc together."

Her cheeks curved, either answering with a smile or wincing with concern. Ororo couldn't be sure.

"Is it a good idea for Magma to come near the bombs?" Rachel asked, her arms crossed disapprovingly. "Her powers might trigger them."

"Hey, I will not," Amara protested. "I shall be careful."

"She will deal with any walls or doors much more easily than you can," Ororo said, even though she shouldn't need to explain herself. However, it did the team good to consider Rachel and Iceman her seconds, so Ororo would treat their concerns differently.

"Will your powers work fine if we're on the floors above?" Rachel asked of Amara, still doubtful.

"They will," said Xi'An, coming in defense of her long-time teammate. "Magma does not need to be at her best to melt a bit of metal."

Amara nodded vigorously in agreement. "Yes! What Karma said!"

Rachel shrugged and looked away satisfied. "Alright, cool."

"Ah, it seems at least one of the contractors has arrived in time," said Hank's voice, disappointed, but Ororo wasn't surprised at all. "Or at least, that's what it sounds like from what they are saying on the radio. My mandarin might not be up to par."

"What are they saying?" Hisako asked, curious.

"A rather large green dragon just showed up at their gates," Hank said, perplexed. "One might even call it jade."

"Fing Fang Foom?" Bobby asked, concerned.

Hisako chuckled at that. "Fing Fang Foom? What kind of name is that?" she asked, trying to not laugh.

"Not him, thankfully," Henry said, quite quickly.

Ororo closed her eyes, maintaining her back straight and her arms crossed, and sensed for the environment around them. They were in the middle of a storm, it seemed. There was a lot of rain, but there was very little thunder and lightning. Ororo stirred the air and its pressure, grinding the clouds together. If they were about to face some gigantic creature, she was going to need everything the storm had to offer.

"Oh now!" the ship said, with Hank's voice, and suddenly jolted to the side. That threw Ororo off her focus as she had to grab onto the handle next to her seat in order not to fall. Hisako and Sooraya were not that fast and fell off their seats with a yelp. "The dragon can fly, everyone."

Ororo squinted her eyes. Most of the team looked out their window, trying to find it, but Ororo didn't really need to see it.

"Shall I?" Xi'An asked, evidently proposing to take over its mind.

Ororo quickly stood up, shaking her head. "No. You are needed down there. The plan stays the same, I will deal with the Jade Dragon. Beast, open the doors."

The blackbird spun and jerked one way, and Ororo again had to grab onto a handle. "Hank!"

Ororo winced, angry she had used his name, but nobody seemed to have noticed. "It is a rather large dragon, Storm," Hank said in warning.

"It's fine," Iceman said, also standing up. "Open the door, Storm can take 'im."

Ororo smirked at him as the door opened. She saw the great big thing in the midst of all the rain and darkness, flying after the ship. The fire it was blowing out its mouth was very nearly falling short of reaching them. It had arms and legs, but wings, and these wings were flapping powerfully.

Ororo scoffed, and her eyes shone, and a mini tornado suddenly formed in the middle of the air between the blackbird and the Jade Dragon. Its wings twisted, caught off-guard, and the creature immediately lost control and vanished below.

"Find out who that is, Beast, I need to know what I'm dealing with." Her eyes shone brighter with the enhancement of her concentration, for she intended to make a winding pathway for her X-Men, but Bobby tapped her shoulder.

"It's fine. Rachel and I will carry them. Just make sure that thing doesn't come after us. Let's go, girls."

Bobby's body froze up to his wrists, but his hands stayed normal. He took Sooraya's hand in one hand, and Hisako in another, and looked at Ororo while freezing a thin platform beneath his feet. She looked over at Rachel who nodded back at her.

"We won't let you down. Go show that dragon it can't stand up to a goddess," Rachel said.

Ororo rolled her eyes and stepped forth while shaking her head. "I know you won't. To me, my X-Men. For Earth."

And Ororo jumped into the storm.

A tornado caught her fall, and kept the body afloat in the middle of the air. The Jade Dragon was already flying right for her, from below. It had regained its flight.

Meanwhile, Bobby's ice formed a slide he mounted and surfed, with the girls in tow, and Rachel dove fast with Xi'An and Amara in her telekinetic hold.

The dragon roared, and it was an intimidating sound. A sound that took over the raging winds and the furious thunder, and it was being produced by a being the size of a building. It was terrifying.

Or it would be, but Ororo had seen a lot. She had seen death, and gods, and behemoths of alien make. She would not fear a beast no matter its size or shape.

If Ororo had learned anything from all her years as an X-Men, and a mutant besides - from her life as a living storm - it was that nothing, absolutely nothing, was bigger or scarier than Nature.

Indeed, regardless of how much noise it made, when compared to Nature, that Jade Dragon was an ant.

* * *

**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_Here we go with the super-powered confrontations. Will everyone be okay? Be sure to continue reading and find out!_


	5. Chapter 5 - A Close Call

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

* * *

**PART 5:** A Close Call

Her eyes shone and her robes fluttered, and her head became full with the familiar connection that she had with the planet's will. Her mutant ability made it so she could influence it. She could convince the planet to breathe at her pace, and according to her whims.

Or at least, that was the ability she had.

The Jade Dragon came soaring across the air at great speeds. Tornados began descending from the cloud-crowded skies in great numbers. The dragon skillfully flipped and spun, zigzagging between them. However, they were too many, and so he was forced to fly away and go around, but Ororo's body turned to keep up.

The dragon roared, and fire shot out of its mouth to nullify one of the tornados. It actually worked, with the heat of the fire all but consuming the winds Ororo sought to control. She saw the dragon smile before the realization, albeit angrily, and then it turned straight towards her.

It blew fire ahead of itself, making a path.

_That dragon is definitely thinking like a person,_ Ororo considered, all while concentrating on worsening the storm. She was bringing clouds from all over the country and stimulating the rain. All the while, she had to keep a bit of her attention on the information being exchanged past her ears.

"We're in. Some guy saw us and immediately disappeared, I think he's a teleporter," Rachel commented. "Couldn't get in his head. Karma?"

"Also missed it," Xi'an said, disappointed.

The dragon's flames lost some reach because of the rain, but not enough that it died out before the fast winds. It was still burning them aside. Ororo felt static coursing through her body, shocking her strands of hair straight, as she willed the clouds to grind together.

"Don't get out from behind the wall! Just focus on our flanks, and above us!" Bobby called, and Ororo hoped that Sooraya and Hisako would heed his instructions.

"Dei Guan," Hank said in her ear. "Storm, that's Dei Guan, the Jade Dragon. Mutant from China. It has been a rather long time since he was last seen in public."

She didn't really process the information, concentrated as she was. Lightning struck at the dragon, and while the fire breath wavered enough for the winds to put it out, the body kept barreling through to her, gigantic and heavy. Ororo disengaged the winds that were holding her and allowed gravity to drop her out of his way.

Ororo watched the dragon gliding above her, and the next moment, her body was thrown violently by the force produced by the massive body speeding past, and the flapping of the wings. Squinting hard, she as if reached for nature again, grasping at the powers she had let go.

With a grunt, she engaged again, and finally gave Henry's words some thought.

"How do we turn him back?" Ororo asked while summoning up another small whirlwind, so that she could hover. The dragon stabilized its flight and began turning back, shaking his head free of the stun and pain.

"I am not completely certain that we can, Storm," Henry reported.

All of a sudden, something flew past her, heading down at an extraordinary speed. Some kind of flier. Too fast for her to react.

Had the person been aiming for her and missed?

"Lots of turrets in this place. They have all the bombs in one place, underground," Rachel reported. "We'll get there soon."

Looking down, Ororo saw that the flier was not slowing down at all. She wasn't the target. "Iceman!" Ororo yelled, to make sure he noticed. "You have incoming from above! Falling fast!"

"What?" Bobby had heard her. "Armor, Dust, get back here, quick!"

Ororo turned her eyes to the dragon, intending to focus a lot of her will into catching him with uneven winds. If she could break his flight like she had before, she could end that fight.

However, her intentions, her thoughts, her senses. They were all utterly robbed by the shock of a massive explosion from below.

In the time it took her to recover from the stunning wince, and look down, the resulting winds reached and threw her away, dispersing her tornados. The concussive force was so strong that, for a long moment, all of the rain was pushed back above the clouds, and became absent.

When her senses returned, it was too late. A massive green hand enveloped around her body and snatched her off the air.

"I have you, now!" The monstrous voice said, but Ororo looked away, downwards.

"What was that?" Amara asked in her ear, near drowning in the panicked ringing as her hearing recovered from the blast.

"Iceman, Dust! Armor! Report! Are you okay?" Storm could barely see anything. Not only was she too high up, but the whole area was now filled with steam. However, the dark smoke in the shape of a mushroom was telling.

_Goddess, what has happened?!_

"Call off your people, Storm," the dragon demanded, with a voice booming hot enough to nearly burn her face.

"Oh my God," said Hisako, suddenly.

"Well. Haven't had that close of a call in a while," said Robert, his voice shaking. Ororo also noticed the whispered mumblings of Sooraya, praying under her breath.

"Oh my God," Hisako repeated. "Did that man just blow up?!"

"Dust is hurt," Bobby reported, with none of his usual joviality, as it always happened once things got serious enough. "I have no idea who he is but I got him on ice."

"I'm not that great either!" said Hisako, defensively. "Oh my God!"

"I am fine," Sooraya said, uncertainly.

"We're good. Miraculously," Bobby said, with a tone that seemed to indicate the man wouldn't just be frozen if that wasn't the case. "But you need to hurry, Phoenix," added Bobby.

"There's some guy stalking us! He knocked out Phoenix," said Xi'an, her voice filled with effort. She was dragging Rachel. "He has a lot of minds, somehow, I can't get control of him. They cleared the entire floor of everyone else, I can't use anyone to help us."

"Are we good?" Hisako asked, quite shook and completely forgetting about the communication, if she was even registering it. "I don't know that I agree with that."

"We do not need any help, Karma," Amara protested. "I am here! Come out and face us, coward!"

"Are you hearing me?" the dragon boomed, shaking Ororo.

Storm focused her opaque eyes on him, and squinted them. "Unhand me or I shall release fury such that you have never witnessed before. Fury of the likes you cannot contend with."

The dragon frowned in confusion, his wings flapping to keep his hovering levelled. After all, just because Ororo wasn't making the storm worse did not mean it got better. The winds were harsh and the rain piercing, just the same. The Jade Dragon squeezed his hand, hurting her considerably.

That was a mistake.

Reflexively, Ororo lashed out with her power. Not only was the hand struck with a variety of lightning bolts, but the rain turned to a hail of ice. The electric shock forced the hand open, and her body fell. Grunting with effort, Ororo forced herself back to full consciousness and almost immediately took an ice shard to the head. It hit across her shoulder instead.

"Ow!" Her temper flared, and winds moved again, not only catching hold of her but also creating a strong enough current around her to push the hail aside. The dragon was roaring in pain, grabbing hold of his struck hand, and incapable to protect himself from the hail. Ororo scowled at him, steeling her heart for what came next.

"I warned you," she said, fatally.

The Jade Dragon had remained still, so now, she was able to confound his wings with uneven, solid gusts of winds. The body jerked and dropped. The wings flapped, as did the arms and legs, and the man-beast yelled with his efforts to grasp at the tumultuous winds around him. The moments in which its wings could grab hold of some control were fleeting, since Ororo would adapt to confound him.

Bit by bit, the dragon fell all the way to the ground, accompanied the whole way by a heavy hail of ice.

"You cannot challenge the forces of nature, no matter who you are," Ororo said, spitefully.

Meanwhile, the communications continued. Henry had gathered control of the second blackbird, and was guiding it to pick Bobby up, as well as the girls.

And Rachel had woken up. "You think you can keep me from finding you…Collective?" Ororo heard Rachel ask, through gritted teeth, clearly.

Ororo heard a yell from far away, which mixed quite well with the dragon's spiraling drop far below.

"You're lucky Magma went easy on you, you idiots. Now go to sleep, all five of you," Rachel demanded.

"Ororo," Henry called. "Stark's Avengers have finished clearing their second base. He has asked me to inquire as to whether they should take over the base in the Artic which has been assigned to us. Apparently, it is located on the way to their next target."

Ororo frowned, insulted by the offer. At the same time, the massive dragon finally hit the ground, lifting up a mountain of dust. It cleared very fast, because of the ongoing storm, and showed a considerable crater. The dragon was gone, though. Ororo guessed it had turned back into its human form, which would be too small for Ororo to discern.

Whether he was alive or not was up to higher powers than hers.

"We're here," said Xi'an. "Should take us about ten minutes to disable all of them."

"Oh, only ten minutes?" Asked Amara, and she sounded hurt. Or at least tired. "Not a problem. I think I only hear ten of them running our way!"

"Go, Karma, help Magma. I'll take care of this," Rachel said.

"I have also learned how to do it. You help her, I will take care of the bombs," Xi'an argued.

Ororo didn't like that argument, or the fact that there was even an argument. Plus, Stark's offer was still on her mind, along with how narrowly they had survived the human bomb. The result was an affected temper which led her to intrude.

"Magma, block off the pathway leading to you. Karma and Phoenix, handle the bombs as fast as you can. Magma will then dig you out of the base to meet us. Stop hesitating, now."

"And what answer shall I give, Storm?" Henry pressed, in her ear. Inside her head. "They want to know."

* * *

**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_That was quite the - wait for it - close call. Next up, Storm has to make a decision on how to tell Stark to get pick up his hubris, pack it into his fanny pack, and take a hike. Also, she has to decide how to proceed with the next three bases. This mission is definitely not a walk in the park._


	6. Chapter 6 - Divided

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

* * *

**PART 6:** Divided.

The contractors seemed to have been dealt with, so Ororo considered leaving with Bobby and the girls, and proceeding with the separation. She had originally planned to separate into two teams, each with a telepath, since it made it much easier to infiltrate and find the bombs, and knowing how to disarm them.

The situation was not really conducive to that. Iceman and the girls were already aboard the blackbird, and Ororo could join them in seconds. Plus, they had Henry on call, and he would always know how to disarm the bombs. They could find them the old-fashioned way.

"Phoenix, what's your condition?" Ororo asked.

"The Collective caught us off guard and sucker punched Karma and me, the assholes. But I took it harder," Rachel admitted, annoyed.

"Or maybe you're just not as resistant," Xi'an teased.

"You see my nose bleeding? My nose is bleeding," Rachel argued, thankfully not really insulted, but more playing loose with banter.

Ororo clicked her tongue and took a breath. "Team, time is of the essence. Please stop arguing and answer me. Are you fit to engage the next base on your own?"

There was a pause, and that was enough to make Ororo worry.

"Monroe," a different voice said, through the gadget in her ear. "There's no time to wait. We can strike at the artic base if you guys are having too much trouble."

"Probably," Rachel finally answered, not having heard that particular call. "Depends on what we meet there."

"What? We can absolutely take care of it," Amara said, confident. "Go, Storm."

Ororo frowned, feeling slightly conflicted. Yet, at the end of the day, she had gathered that team to tackle the most dangerous of threats. It didn't have the most powerful X-Men to ever live. Colossus wasn't a part of it, and neither was his sister, whose teleportation would be helpful. There were reasons behind all of those choices. In the end, if Ororo did not separate her team, Stark would most likely separate his. He was a man who would send each member of his team out alone, if he wasn't doing that already.

Ororo didn't like it, but she had to do it. "Keep in contact at all times. Beast, signal our backup so they're ready, just in case they're needed."

"Backup?" Xi'An asked. "We have backup?"

"Hello?" Stark's voice called again. "Is this thing on - can you hear me? I'm pretty sure I hacked the right channel."

"If we need it," Ororo said in reply to Xi'An, trying to make it clear that they shouldn't need backup.

"We won't need it," Rachel promised.

"Same here," said Bobby, defensively, and Ororo shook her head and turned the winds, flying up and towards the respective Blackbird.

"We'll be done in five," Rachel said. "Good luck."

"Hello?" Stark called once again, impatiently. "I can hear you fine, and I know you can hear m-"

"Stay focused on your task, Iron Man. We will fulfill ours. And I would appreciate it if you used our handles during the mission."

"You're sure about this? It's no trouble at all for us," Stark pressed, defensively. He was a genius, but much like T'Challa, wholly evident in his intentions. He felt responsible for breaking stealth and making the mission more dangerous for everyone, and so now, he wanted to make it up to them.

As if failure motivates confidence.

Ororo let out a breath in exasperation. "Get off my channel, Iron Man. Beast is your contact."

"Well yes, but he wasn't responding," Stark explained.

"Because I was thinking," Ororo said, unnerved.

"Well, think faster next time," Tony told her, defensively, and exited the channel.

Ororo flew herself into the cargo hold, accepting Bobby's hand and assistance to step properly onto its floor. She saw how Sooraya had her sleeve on her arm completely tore away, and it was slightly burned. Hisako was leaning back, head turned upwards, and her nose was plugged with something white. She was holding an ice pack on her head, as well.

"You said you were fine," Ororo accused in Bobby's direction, and he simply shrugged.

"Dust got a little singed. Armor was just pushed a little too hard on her power, she wasn't actually hit."

"If I'm not wrong, I just got nuked," Hisako argued, glancing sideways at Bobby. "A nuke hit me. I'd like that to be in the report, please. Do we write reports?"

"It wasn't _**that**_ big of a nuke," Bobby argued, and Hisako rolled her eyes.

"An island off Madripoor will be coming next," Hank said. "Be ready, I'm certain the contractors will already have arrived. They will be fully prepared for your arrival this time around."

Ororo shook her head and looked up reflexively. "No. Send us to the artic. Send Phoenix to Madripoor."

"As you will, my dear," Henry agreed.

There was no going back now. Ororo stepped closer to the two girls and watched as they looked up at her. Waited for it.

"Are you two able to fight?" Ororo asked, pointedly.

Sooraya nodded meaningfully, her eyes wide open. Hisako sighed and closed hers. "Yeah yeah…just promise me no nukes."

"That was a large explosion, but it was nothing next to what these bombs are capable of. Even one of them." Storm took a breath and finally relaxed somewhat, taking a seat. "Beast, what are the chances this human bomb can come after us?"

"None whatsoever," Henry answered at once. "Samurai is his codename, and he cannot fly that fast. It would take him days to get there."

"Good," Ororo said. "Very good. We will be employing an even more straightforward approach on this next base. No diversions, no different tasks. We strike as four, and we do so violently. None among us is a telepath, so we need to find the bombs by seeking them out, or by convincing someone to tell us under threat of death."

"We'll do what we have to," Hisako said with a shrug. "This is a bit crazy but when isn't it? I want to stop these maniacs."

"I agree," said Sooraya.

Storm stepped back and sat down. She was wondering who those contractors were, and how they had been convinced to help terrorists such as the K.I.A.

"I'm the reason we're going to the artic, aren't I?" Bobby asked, sitting next to her.

Ororo knew the girls would be listening intently to their more personal exchange. "It would be idiotic to send Magma to the artic," Ororo said, breathing as carefully as she could. She needed to catch up on a lot of breath, but she didn't want to make them think she might be as tired as she was. It might affect their confidence.

"Bombs cleared. These guys are really not happy," Xi'an reported.

"Who cares how they feel," Amara said, vindictively.

"Exactly. We're on our way to the Blackbird, Beast," said Rachel.

Ororo was happy that her two seconds naturally took the reigns, and that the rest of the members instinctually accepted it. She didn't have to say anything about how they should listen to Rachel and Bobby.

"Any idea about who is in the artic, Beast?" Ororo asked.

"I'm afraid not, my dear," Henry said, apologetically. "And I have lost what access I had to their systems. I'm afraid you'll be going in blind."

"Great," said Hisako, punctuated by a heavy sigh coming from Sooraya.

"It's okay, girls. We got this. I dunno anyone these guys can get that'll stand a chance against our leader here," Bobby said, gesturing to Ororo. "And that's before you even get to this guy!" he added, proudly pointing at himself with two thumbs.

The girls rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Hey, what was that?!" Bobby asked.

Ororo smiled.

Hopefully, Robert Drake was right to be confident. She knew she was, but then again, she had tasted the sour taste of defeat too many times to allow hubris to infect her.

They all had.

* * *

**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_Foreboding. Next part, the team splits up! Will Storm be alright with just the rookies and without telepaths? Check back and find out! :)_


	7. Chapter 7 - Third Strike

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

* * *

**PART 7:** Third Strike

They didn't even get to the base proper.

When they were about to arrive, an electromagnetic pulse shot out across the skies and coursed through their ship, shutting everything off. Ororo was first to the wheel to take manual control of the airship. Meanwhile, the gadgets in their ears fizzled, shocking their heads. Each and every one of them winced and pulled the ear pieces out.

"What's this? I thought the Blackbird was inoculated against EMPs," Ororo protested, as the bird started to glide. Well and truly powered out.

"I guess someone invented a way around it," Bobby said, grimacing. "Do we bail?"

Ororo was managing to keep the ship balanced, which was good. But the fact they had no airship was severely worrying, and they had also lost their communication devices. All of a sudden, the mission was in real danger. That said, Ororo had a good idea of what to do.

"We will land the ship safely. We will take control of the base and use its communication systems to get a hold of Beast. He will let me know how to recover the ship."

"This will at least delay us a lot," Hisako pointed out. "How are we going to get to the next base in time?"

Ororo frowned, displeased beyond belief. "Hopefully, the Avengers will be able to take an extra base. There was only one left after these two." It was also possible that Henry would preempt that decision and ask the Avengers to do so before she could even contact him.

It was important to be be honest about the fact there was nothing she could do about that.

Ororo had to focus on the fact her team was about to be stranded in hostile territory within range of nuclear weapons. Breathing deeply, she focused and knew her eyes began to shine. The ship rocked as a powerful gust of wind took hold of it. "Go, Iceman," she commanded, with an echoing voice.

"You got it," he said, all too willing.

Bobby waited for the airship to be gliding slowly enough, then he opened the emergency door, which had a manual handle, and left it. Once he was sliding outside, he generated a lot of snow and ice to help break the fall. It worked very well.

It was almost like Iceman had had to do the same thing many times before.

They left the ship and walked out into the freezing Artic, but Ororo expended some concentration to keep the cold winds away from them. It wasn't warmth, but it would help. With that, she walked on, leading them forward.

They landed quite far away from the base, but it had still been visible as they were falling, so they knew where to go. Bobby was leading their charge, and Hisako had the armor turned on since it helped with the cold. Oddly. Sooraya was also transformed, and so a dust-cloud with a human face was following them.

"All and all, really good thing we're the ones here, huh?" Bobby asked, encouragingly.

"I don't know. Amara would be keeping everyone warm," Hisako pointed out.

"I'm not sure even she could do that in this environment," Bobby pointed out.

"Stay focused," Ororo said, calling them to attention. "They obviously expected us, and their counter-offensive has already begun. Do not hold back and watch over each other no matter what."

"Right!" Hisako agreed, frowning with dedication, which made Bobby chuckle. "What was that?" Hisako asked, immediately.

"Nothing, nothing," he said, waving his hand. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, Armor."

"I think I see them," Sooraya reported, and they all stopped to take a good look.

The base was pretty visible in the distance, and indeed, vehicles were lifting up snow in the wake of their movement. Ororo nodded and pulled the winds to lift herself into the air.

"X-Men," she said, and pointed forward. "We have a mission to carry out." The winds blew, and her body shot forward. Bobby gave birth to an ice platform and jumped onto it, and it pushed him forward. Dust caught the tailwind of Ororo's gust and followed after quite rapidly.

Hisako was left behind, fuming. "Hey! What about - ah, man!" Awkwardly, she took the first sinking step of her run to keep up, but then a strong whirlwind caught hold of her and pulled her along. "Whoah!"

A couple of hovering tanks stopped with a slide, and at least twenty soldiers took position behind them, all while the guns and cannons were taking aim. Fire came shooting at them in quick succession and numbers, and Ororo moved the wind, bobbing and weaving the three of them through the projectile and laser fire. Hisako yelled a bit as she was pulled to and fro, and meanwhile, Bobby had ice pop up to block whatever he didn't dodge.

It really was terrible terrain for their enemies. Once he came close enough, Bobby had the entire party frozen in a matter of seconds. Not their heads, but definitely their weapons and vehicles.

Ororo tried to interrogate a few of them, but they either didn't know anything, or knew she wouldn't hurt them that seriously. With time being so short, she couldn't find out. Annoyed and inconvenienced, she kept moving towards the base.

It was about the same kind of experience once they got there. It wasn't even funny how outmatched their forces were against her X-Men, but mostly, Bobby was doing all the work. They met with another line of defense and easily got through it using the exact same tactic. They got through the gate by freezing it solid, after which Ororo flung Hisako at it like a projectile. They did the same to infiltrate the actual building. Ororo was mainly focused on unseen angles of attack, employing vicious gusts of wind to blow away any and all attempts to come at them from a flank. Hisako and Sooraya were doing a good job of intercepting whatever she missed, but in general, it really was the Iceman's show.

Iceman was truly at home in a place such as that, freezing large areas instantly and with ease. All the while, he joked and gloated, oblivious to the tension and concentration that the rest of them were maintaining. Or maybe, he was very aware of it. Maybe that was why he was acting with such levity.

Once inside the base, they started searching for the bombs, first of all. Even though the entire facility was trying to attack them, there was little they could actually do against them. The enclosed space allowed for a lot less flanks and surprise attacks, and for that reason, Ororo was finally capable of interrogating their enemies more efficiently.

Once they found some soldiers of higher rank in a room, she had Bobbie stand outside to keep others from interrupting her and, along with Sooraya, hurt the men in a non-fatal, non-permanent way.

"Tell me how to get to the bombs. Give me clear and perfect instructions, or Dust shall push your eyes out of their sockets, and that will merely be the start of your unpleasantness." She knew Sooraya would never do that, and hopefully, the girl knew Ororo would never ask her to really do it. But for the sake of the interrogation, the girl knew to stay quiet and wait.

The man felt Dust's sand crawling inside his ears, and plugging his nose. Crying, he nodded. "I will tell you. I swear, I will tell you!"

"Good. You will also tell me how to find your leader, or failing that, your communications room." Ororo squinted her eyes. "I need to make a call."

"Ah, two of the originals," said a familiar voice coming from the door. A voice which Ororo had a tough time placing, but could still recollect, and with not an ounce of friendliness.

Turning her eyes, Ororo immediately recognized him, and knew looking had been a mistake. The bald head, the painted symbol around the forehead, and that look of utter arrogance that only an old-school villain could employ. "That explains it," he said, and it was already too late.

Ororo had met the eyes of Mesmero.

* * *

**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_WHO IS MESMERO?! He's pretty old school. Likely, only Iceman and Storm even know him. Check back next part when we meet the other "contractor" hired to lead the defense of this third base. One who is very familiar to our X-Men._


	8. Chapter 8 - Relentless

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

* * *

**PART 8:** Relentless.

Storm woke up in a cell of some kind.

It wasn't that Ororo had been asleep, but rather, she had been under a hypnotic effect that very much felt like sleeping.

Slowly, she began to remember what had happened.

Mesmero had walked into the room with her already hypnotized, as well as Bobby. Hisako, not knowing how his powers worked, quickly fell under his spell as well.

Sooraya turned into her Dust form to resist it, and while that had worked, Bobby had instantly frozen her. Sooraya was now the oddest ice statue in the world, frozen in her half-dust form.

"Is she completely free?" A familiar voice asked.

Mesmero's voice surged, mockingly. "As requested."

Ororo saw the dark fur and the evil little grin of an enemy that looked too much like a friend. She blinked, fully focusing her vision, and confirmed it was none other than Henry's alternative self, whom everyone simply called Dark Beast.

He grinned hungrily. "Hello, Ororo. It is such a pleasure to meet again."

Ororo frowned and said nothing. She would not be meeting Mesmero's eyes again, that was for sure.

She glanced around at her cell, finding it surprisingly spacious. It didn't even look like a cell, being surrounded by normal walls on every side but one, and that was where the two were standing around looking confident and in control. She knew it before she even touched it, but she still made sure that the open wall wasn't opened at all. It was a see-through glass that was likely capable of withstanding a lot of punishment.

"Are you not even surprised?" Dark Beast asked.

She was, but Ororo knew how not to satisfy egomaniacs such as them. She kept ignoring them, looking around the room for anything she could use. There was no window. She didn't even know if she was underground or not. More importantly, she couldn't feel the connection to nature.

Ororo closed her eyes and concentrated.

"That won't work, my very overrated lady." The Dark Beast said, grinning happily, and Mesmero also smiled. "You may think yourself a goddess, maybe everyone does, but divine, Ororo, you are not. You are like any one of us, and your abilities, despite appearances, are given and empowered by science."

Ororo turned her back on them and focused further, trying to find even a shred of the connection she was familiar with. A thread that she could hold onto.

"Can you hear me? Hello?"

Dark Beast quieted down behind her after that. He was probably triple checking all of the systems and gadgets being used to keep her incarcerated, and at the same time, communicable. Meanwhile, Ororo could almost feel something, but it was indeed too far away and closed off for her to grab onto and use. It was like seeing sunlight, but it was too far away to reach and feel the heat.

Opening her eyes, Ororo crossed her arms and began to think.

_Hank knows we're here, he'll be sending backup soon. But the Dark Beast is as much of a genius as Hank is, and unlike us,_ _who didn't know about them,_ _he knows exactly what our roster is._ _Our support_ _might suffer the same fate we did, should they attempt a rescue._

"No, it's all working, she's just ignoring us," the fake Henry said.

Mesmero scoffed. "Truly? Well that is just disrespectful."

"That is because I have no respect for evil maniacs like yourselves," Ororo said, not turning around to meet them, "especially when you are nothing but pawns in a larger plot."

"Pawns?!" Mesmero reacted, angry, but the Dark Beast laughed.

"Now now, this is why you always lose, my friend. You do not have the wisdom, nor the confidence, to know a manipulation when it stares you in the face with the stealth of a stampeding elephant. That's a nice try, Ororo, but-"

"It is Storm to you, vile Beast," Ororo said, meaning to insult.

The fake Henry went silent for a couple of seconds, and then emitted a small growl. "It is Dark Beast…and you know that. Ororo."

She winced at hearing that familiar voice say her name, with despicable intent, but there was nothing she could do. That's what was preoccupying her thoughts at that moment, that there really was nothing she could do. Ororo was trapped, and so was everyone else. Far as she knew, Mesmero still had Bobby under his control, and that would truly catch their backup by surprise.

Even without the surprise factor, Bobby would likely still win.

"It doesn't seem like she wants to talk," Mesmero pointed out, amused. "Are you sure we do not want to use her?"

"Very little chance she will allow it now," Dark Beast said, and that was the absolute truth. "But no, not at all, I want her to be very aware of her failure. I want her to savor every single second. Bring him in."

Ororo glanced back and saw a man being dragged inside by soldiers. It was a man wearing a lab coat.

"Besides myself, this is the only person on the base that can disable the ordinance you have been sent to disarm." And then, one of the soldiers shot the man in the head.

It was quite sudden, but Ororo didn't even flinch. She expected it.

"And we are only getting started, my queen," the fake Henry announced, proudly grinning at her. "Soon, that will be our friend Drake. And then your children, as well."

"I recommend you think twice before continuing that line of thinking, Hank," Ororo said, threatening him. "I am not the X-Man I once was. My patience is thinner, and my mercy quick to dissipate."

But the fake Hank chuckled, and so did Mesmero.

"When you're right, you're right," Mesmero said, giving the Dark Beast a few bills of money. "Shall I get ready to receive the inevitable rescue team?"

"Yes. Should we succeed at that, then Ororo shall meet the real faces of our administrators." He grinned even more widely as the gloating sentiment turned sadistic. "I cannot wait to see her expression."

And then they left her, which was always the mistake to make. It was the mistake even the X-Men made time and time again, to leave someone inside a cell with time and space to gather their thoughts. Their strengths.

And their plans.

Ororo sat, with her back straight, and closed her eyes. She relaxed and tried to reach out to the forces of nature once again. She sought after that tiny, faraway crack. Perhaps she could improve her mental ability while she was there, and make use of that tiny, fleeting connection.

Ororo breathed in and breathed out. It was so hard when she couldn't visualize it, and she couldn't. She could sense a tiny canal of pressure, which was likely an inch-wide crack somewhere in her cell. It had to be very small because she couldn't really feel it. Yet, she could sense it.

Ororo breathed in and breathed out. She did something which she was not very familiar with, which was to send a gust of her will out through the crack. She waited, and a few seconds later, she sensed a difference in what little she could sense through the crack. She had nudged the environment, even if only slightly.

_There we are. It will take a while, but it is doable._ Ororo breathed in and breathed out. And she pushed with her power, sending another nudge through the crack. It wasn't a lot, but it was something.

If there was anything she had learned with the X-Men, it was that there was always something that was possible to be done. No situation was truly hopeless.

* * *

**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_Quite in a pickle that our X-men are in. How will they ever get out of this one? Check out next part and find out :)_


	9. Chapter 9 - Divided

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

* * *

**PART 9:** Divided.

Ororo was trying to stay focused, but it was very hard. Guilt had her memory running wild and painful. She shouldn't have separated them. She should have accepted Stark's offer. There was a lot that she should have done, and that was getting in the way of what she had to now do. Impeding her ability to discern what she should do in the present.

Ororo could tell she was having an effect outside, but it was hard to know its real impact. It was hard to tell if she was bringing on a storm, or if she was simply generating a cyclical breeze. Yet, there was nothing else she should have been doing.

As she focused again, it seemed to her that the crack was now wider. The connection to nature, to Earth, was a tiny bit more pronounced. It was almost imperceptible, but with the time she had spent focusing on that singular connection, it was clear to her that that was the case.

Then some dust fell on her. Ororo opened her eyes and looked at the few specks of sand lying on the floor. It was a small mound of sand, so small it could hardly fit a handful. Storm looked up and saw nothing that could explain it, and when she looked back down, the particles had moved.

Despite the lack of wind, the specks of source-less debris started circling around her.

"Dust," Ororo whispered, shocked, and all the grains of sand stopped in front of her feet. _They did not freeze all of her,_ Ororo realized, pretty much shocked at what she was seeing. _This is remarkable…she can do this?_

The grains stood still, and then nudged side to side, as if to spur her.

_Wait, the improved connection,_ _was it made by her digging her way in?_ Storm wondered, looking around. _Am I being filmed? Will_ _whatever camera Dark Beast_ _put in here be able to see the dust?_

It was likely that that was not the case, but whatever the case, she should take action. Ororo closed her eyes again, and nodded her head in concentration.

Covertly, she whispered down. "Widen the gap you used to get in."

Ororo didn't see it, but she heard it, and within seconds, she felt it. The gap was wider, and the connection to the Earth was more pronounced.

She smiled for a moment, but quickly relaxed and frowned in concentration.

Within minutes, Ororo was secretly manipulating air pressures. She could sense the clouds and the weather around the base, and started directing them.

Dark Beast thought he could maintain a man-made thing in the middle of Earth's harshest environment? Not if Ororo fully unleashed her influence upon it, and that was exactly what she spent the next hour doing. She knew he would be monitoring the weather, just in case Ororo revealed her power. They both would. So she kept her manipulations clever and minute. Her influences would be known only to processes which took a while to develop and fully form.

One can tell when a hurricane is forming, but not when the butterfly flaps its wings and causes it.

While she did this, Ororo planned. Dark Beast was a genius, but evil made him far more predictable than her own Henry. That was why he was the weaker of the two, not to mention that he had never suffered the second mutation, and was thus a far less formidable foe to fight.

_Alright. Everything is ready,_ Ororo realized. _Now._

Bad weather was normal in that region, so the increase in rains and cold winds would have come as no surprise. But now, hail began to fall at an abnormally violent rate, and several hurricanes formed and began laying waste to the outside of the base, and all the floors above the surface. The way they were setup, they would continue to do so for a while, even if Ororo was not working them.

She was fairly certain she was underground, and so would Dust's frozen body be, as well as Hisako. Even if that wasn't the case, she trusted Hisako and Bobby to survive anything she threw at them.

It was everyone else who had to worry. And indeed, it took mere minutes for the Dark Beast to come in yelling

"Are you insane?!" Fake Hank screamed, rushing in. "How are you doing this? And why?! You will cause the ordinance to explode!"

Ororo stayed on the ground, her back turned to him, and her eyes closed. She only heard the Dark Beast, but she wanted to make sure.

"No," Ororo said, keeping her expression merciless. "Your masters will. Rather than give them up and let us live, they will trigger them. Or force you to do it. But if I know anything, it's that you will refuse such a thing. You won't die for anyone."

"I will just kill you, then," he said. As if they could see through walls, soldiers started marching inside. Four of them ran in through the door and aimed their guns at her, and still, no Mesmero.

The two would have separated to once again prepare for another team of X-Men.

Thus, Ororo calmly stood up and turned an implacable face towards her enemy. "It is too late. The storm is unleashed and free of my control. This base will be laid to ruins no matter what you do to me. Even this place, which is dug into ice, will be torn down by the raging seas."

As if to confirm, the room viciously shivered and trembled.

"They will trigger the bombs, you mad woman!" Dark Beast protested, in a half roar, and Ororo shrugged.

"We are in the artic," Ororo said, unshaken. "Since only our lives will be lost, that is a risk I am willing to take. Are you?"

Fake Henry squinted his eyes at her, grimacing with anger. Then his evil glare turned on the soldiers, who glanced back at him in response, suspicious. The whole scenario was an improvement on how Ororo thought it was going to go, really.

There was no time to exchange words, the soldiers were very clearly ready for his betrayal. So immediate and surprising action was the Dark Beast's only recourse. Snarling, he lunged at the soldiers, and they opened fire. Ororo stepped back and away from the wall, and prepared to run.

_Find the others._ _Find the bombs. Calm the storm, _Ororo repeated to herself, gulping as Dark Beast kicked a rifle away from hitting him. Bullets trailed the floor and the ceiling as he set upon them like a Tasmanian devil, fast and agile despite the lack of the secondary mutation. The soldiers were also trying not to hit each other.

Still, his dark fur was singed by rifle's fire, and that made him roar. With his foot, Dark Beast grabbed a grenade of the man he was wrestling with and threw it at the soldiers on the opposite side of the room, who had shot at him. _We can do this,_ Ororo added in her mind, stubbornly.

One of the soldiers panicked and smacked the grenade away, at the transparent wall.

"Stay with me, Dust," Ororo whispered, steeling herself.

A burst of noise and fire blew the fake wall to smithereens. A great number of glass shards shot out and rained upon Ororo, but she flapped the loose ends of her cape, protecting herself just fine.

The soldiers had been blasted against the walls and were either knocked out, dead, or in-between. Fake Henry, bleeding and growling, hurt by the grenade, struggled to crawl away and towards the door with his right arm. The left was heavily wounded even as he was using it to slap flames out on his legs. It didn't look like he would be able to do much else with it.

Ororo ran in his direction, her intent clear.

"Damn you! Damn you and all your luck! How did you summon the storm?!" Dark Beast demanded. "HOW?"

When she came close enough, he clawed at her, but she stomped on his limb with her boot, making him growl in pain.

Scowling, Ororo looked down on him. "Divine intervention," she told him, mockingly, and kicked him in the face. He took it well, so she kicked him a few more times.

Ororo kicked the vile Dark Beast until he was truly and completely out.

It was very cathartic, but soldiers were outside, and she could already hear them. Were she new to the danger, she might have hesitated, but Ororo Monroe was as seasoned as seasoned could be, so she ran out to meet them.

Ororo had been trained as well as any other X-Men, but she had many years of practice on almost every other X-Men, and a variety of tutors that none of them had ever had access to. Like T'Challa.

She exited the door and cut the distance as fast as she could, since distance was their advantage. Stepping in close to the first of them, Ororo slapped the rifle aside, elbowing the soldier in his masked face, and that hit with a force he didn't expect. Ororo used him as a body shield and charged the rest of the three. That made them miss their fire, and allowed her to engage them in a close fight.

The soldiers knew how to fight, though, so she did not get through it unscathed. By the end of it, the fourth soldier, the one she kept awake and conscious, and throttled by the inside of her elbow, was on the floor gargling on his own teeth.

Ororo snorted a blob of blood out of her nose, and spat it out, and then grabbed him by the collar with a bloodied hand. Her nails were broken, almost every one of them. "Where are my X-Men!?" She yelled, projecting bloody spittle on his face. "Tell me!"

And he did, weakly, point her in the right direction. Grunting, Ororo stood up and moved. As she did so, her eyes glowed with her increasing concentration. It was tougher to summon the winds while being that deep underground, but if there was one thing people needed to remember, it was that Ororo was tougher. Tougher than the Earth.

That was why she commanded it.

Two soldiers turned a corner, but her robes and hair fluttered, and blood shot forth from her hands and clothes as a gust of wind pushed past her to hit them. The two soldiers lost their footing and shot wildly up at the ceiling. They flew back to hit a wall extremely violently. They were immediately rendered unconscious.

Ororo took a deep breath, sensing a lack of stamina. _Find them,_ she told herself.

She marched on and soon had to deal with another patrol of soldiers. Unable to summon winds strong enough fast enough, Ororo was forced to fight them the regular way, again. She won that fight as well. But not without cost. Her eyebrow was blistered, or cut, so now she only had one eye through which she could see clearly. Her capes were shredded. One of the soldiers had actually gotten a bullet to hit her, and even if it had only grazed her forearm, it was still bleeding from the cut.

_Find them,_ Ororo told herself, stubbornly marching onwards.

It took her long minutes, but she made it to another room. The door was left open, and it was showing a cell much like the one she had been in, only it was Hisako who was being held within. Ororo limped her way past the door with as much firmness and dignity as she could muster.

"Armor!" Ororo called out, and Hisako turned to her.

"No, Storm, be careful!" She glanced sideways, and so Ororo turned, ready to face soldiers.

Instead, she faced a very amused Mesmero. Again, she went to sleep, but this time, she woke up immediately after. It was so quick that, for an instant, she thought it was a trick.

Yet, Mesmero was frowning hard, his eyes shut in utter pain as he flinched away. "Argh, my eyes! What is this?!"

_Dust,_ Ororo realized, gritting her teeth in anger. She charged forward and kicked Mesmero in the stomach, sending him falling to the ground with a yelp.

"You damnable bastard!" Ororo yelled, pinning him down so that she could keep her eyes closed and hit him without any risk of being taken over. "You threaten my team? You threaten my X-Men?!"

After a few hits, he stopped yelling, so Ororo stopped punching him. Pulling him up, all while still keeping her eyes shut just in case, she then told him very clearly. "You are fortunate that I have no need to kill you." Then she flung him hard against the floor.

"Bastard," Ororo added again, and then approached the panels.

"Oh my…you look terrible! Are you okay?!" Hisako asked, concerned.

Ororo snorted and spat blood again, and meanwhile, she pulled the lever to open the cell. At least that's what the label said it did, and that's what happened.

"Trust me." Ororo smiled at Hisako, exuding confidence. "I have experienced far worse. Let's go. Knocking out Mesmero will have freed Iceman. He will be coming to help us, but we need to find Dust first."

"I remember where they stored her, follow me!" Hisako said, running out. Ororo was glad to see she was taking the situation as seriously as she should, and not hesitating.

Hisako led Ororo, all while the base shook and trembled, with alarms sounding high on repeat. Piercing. Ororo was limping a bit, but she could still run pretty well. She followed Hisako who, meeting with two different patrols of soldiers, made short work of them. That was a relief, Ororo didn't have many more fist-fights in her. If she even had one.

The corridors were too tight, so the soldiers could hardly get any shots out before Hisako ran into them and smashed them against the walls, or just pummeled them into the ground. And that was if their weapons were shooting lasers, because otherwise, it didn't matter if they were able to shoot. There was nothing they could do against Hisako's very supernatural armor.

"How are we dealing with the bombs?" Hisako asked while they ran.

"First, we regroup," Ororo said. "Then we find a way to communicate with Beast. He will tell us how."

When they found the room where Dust was being kept, they had to deal with the guards there, and afterwards, they saw the deformed ice statue they had been seeking. Sooraya had been frozen in her dust form.

"What do we do? Magma's not here, we can't thaw her out," Hisako said.

Ororo took a breath, trying to think. They couldn't carry her, but she wasn't about to leave Sooraya behind, either. The condition of the base was getting worse, too. Ororo had to get outside and calm the storm because she could only do it fast enough from outside.

"She's dust," Ororo said, wincing with a headache. "We can smash this to bits and just carry them with us."

"Uhhh…" Hisako glanced sideways, doubtful. "We sure about that, Storm?"

Just then, the alarm wheezed into a sudden stop. The two looked around, wondering what was going to happen next.

A broadcast began.

"Right, finally found the off button for that thing. Holy crap." It was Bobby. "I'm pretty pissed right now, so if anyone here doesn't want to be a shattered popsicle, you better clear the hell out o' this base, 'cause I'm coming for all of you. Storm, Beast says it's safe to break dust apart."

Bobby had indeed woken up, and immediately, he had headed towards the communication room, or whatever it might be called. He had already contacted Beast. On top of that, he had correctly guessed that Storm was free.

Hisako shrugged. "Well, alright," she said, and turned on her armor.

Hisako crushed the ice statue and ground it into pieces, and then formed a small mound. Meanwhile, Ororo picked a pack from one of the soldiers. She cleared it of all the weapons and ammo, and other things. Awkwardly, but necessarily, they filled the pack with every frozen piece of dust. More than likely, dirt and specks that weren't part of Sooraya were also bundled into the pack, but that was best. They couldn't risk missing a piece.

"We might be going out into terrible weather, Dust. Get all of you in here," Ororo said outloud, holding the pack open. The grains of sand that had been following her, and helping her, dove into the pack. Ororo tied it close and shut all the straps.

"Wait, what?" Hisako asked, shocked to see that. "Was that - she can do that?!"

Ororo slapped the final strap shut and shook the pack to make sure it was properly secured. "X-Men can do anything," Ororo said, and then handed the pack to Hisako. "Protect it with your life, Armor. That is your teammate."

Hisako's eyes bulged. She glanced down at the pack, and then flung it around her back as she nodded with extreme determination, and turned her armor on. "I will!"

Ororo nodded with her, encouraging her.

"Let us finish this."

* * *

**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_Alright, one more chapter to wrap it up. Get some information on who K.I.A. even is, who Dark Beast had been hired by, and final thoughts on how the team performed._


	10. Chapter 10 - X-Men Earth

_**Disclaimer: Goes without saying but I do not own any of the X-Men characters, nor any other Marvel character herein included. They're the properties of the original creators as dictated by official documents, whom you can find out more about in Wikipedia or something. Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, etc. **_

_**Rating: T for a bit of violence. I censor profanity like they would in a comic, if I ever use it.**_

_**(This story happens in the same timeline/universe as **__**Spider-Man: Repulse**__**, **__**Bruce Banner: The Abysmal**_, _**Avengers: The Galaxy's Mightiest**_, and _**The Mighty Thor: Moxy.**__** but it's self contained!)**_

* * *

**PART 10:** X-Men Earth

There were no more contractors in the base, so the conclusion to the mission was pretty anti-climactic.

Bobby went and froze the entire room where the bombs were stored, from top to bottom, so no signal would be able to reach them, let alone a person. Meanwhile, Ororo calmed the storm in time for at least part of the underground base to be left intact.

However, as far as anything above ground was concerned, it was complete devastation.

The soldiers fought to the very last, so it took too long of a while for Ororo to reach the communication room in person where she able to talk to Beast herself.

Ororo's very first question must not have come as a surprise. "How are Phoenix and her team?"

"Mission successful, despite setbacks very much like yours," Henry reported, concerned. "You don't sound like you're in that good of a shape, my dear."

Ororo scoffed, trading glances with the rest of her team. They were still waiting for Dust's frozen pieces to get warm enough that she could assemble herself. "What setbacks? Are they okay or not?"

"They are heading your way as we speak. A team of Madripoorean mutants were the contractors there. They set up a good ambush but Magma was a bit too powerful for them."

_We should all be too powerful for our foes to contend with. I split the team completely wrong,_ Ororo thought, berating herself in silence.

Despite that, each and every one of her X-Men had acted admirably. They didn't lose hope and they were very quick to act once the opportunity presented itself. Dust, especially, was of note, and she was precisely the member Ororo had questioned the most.

That was always how such things went.

"I gather there is no information on who K.I.A. is?" Henry asked. "Every other strike has required immediate extraction, so there hasn't been enough time to search in that sense. Stark tried to get something, but it turns out they scrubbed every database on every base we have been hitting. I gather they must have done so as soon as our strikes were revelead."

"Dark Beast was here," Ororo said. She was so tired. She was sitting in front of the communicator, but she was holding her face in her hands. Too tired to sit up straight.

Ororo started massaging her face. "He took over the base so they couldn't betray him, so we might get lucky. Hisako's doing what she can, but everything is in a weird language."

"Weird how, my dear? Don't you recognize the characters?" Henry asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's alien," Ororo said. "I can't place it, but I know it's alien. I also found some dossiers with K.I.A spelled out, but that's the same alien language."

"This is phenomenal!" Henry announced, beyond happy. "The Avengers have recovered absolutely nothing of note. I will let them know, but I certainly would want first crack at whatever you find. I'm confident that with Cypher's help, we shall get to the bottom of this conundrum before you can say stars and garters."

"That's good, because there's no way I can figure this out," said Hisako, slapping at the machine frustrated.

Turns out that wasn't a communications room. It was some kind of main headquarters room. It was likely the most important room in the whole base.

Ororo didn't much care about that, though. "I put Dark Beast and Mesmero in a cell, along with every soldier I thought would wake up soon, but there are a lot of soldiers who can still cause us trouble."

"Phoenix will be there within the hour," Beast guaranteed. "I will have to let you know later whom shall be sent to collect all the data."

"What happened with the fifth base?" Ororo asked, disappointed. "I imagine you sent the Avengers in?"

"Ah, yes! I did take some liberties regarding that particular situation. The Avengers were not required, as it turned out. I contacted our allies at X-Force, and asked them to intercede on our behalf."

Ororo nodded. It still felt like a loss to need assistance in that manner, but it was definitely better that it came from their own. "Good thinking, Beast. We will be standing by, contact us if necessary."

"Will do, Storm, will certainly do!"

Storm leaned back against the chair, beyond tired.

"Not a fan of fighting several feet below the ice, huh?" Bobby asked, smirking at her, and Ororo rolled her eyes.

She was about to respond, but Sooraya's ice began to crack and crumble. They all turned to watch a hundred particles of sandy material break through the ice. Then, they whirled and spiraled, swiftly taking a human form.

Once she was complete, she immediately kneeled down on the ground, as if losing her balance. "Oh, thank God," Sooraya proclaimed, and rested her forehead on the ground with gratitude and relief. "I am back. I made it back."

"Storm told us what you did," Bobby said, walking next to her with his hands on his waist, looking proud. "That was badass, girl."

Hisako also stood up and approached, extending her hand to Sooraya. "You're really amazing Soo—Dust," Hisako said, awkwardly. "Super amazing, you saved all our butts."

Sooraya sighed and grasped Hisako's hand, allowing her to aid her into a stand. Then she looked to Ororo, facing her meaningfully. "And you saved mine."

Ororo tried not to relax her face too much. If she showed too much relief, the girl would realize the amount of danger she had been in.

"That is what X-Men are all about, right?" Sooraya asked.

Ororo scoffed, shaking her head. She was still so sore, and beyond tired. Her head was hurting immensely, and her nose was plugged so it wouldn't bleed quite so much. At the end of it all, they had faced quite difficult odds as far as their first mission was concerned. But each and every single one of her team members had been dependable. Professional.

Heroic.

Storm felt honored that she had been offered to lead that team. Wolverine had been given the leadership on the team that had been put together to address street-level crime, and Kitty had preferred to stay with the children at the school as a full time teacher and administrator. With Rogue being a part of the joint Avengers and X-Men team, and Cyclops not an option, she had been selected.

Still, whether due to the absence of others or not, she knew from the start that she could do the job. After all, she had led the X-Men before on many occasions.

That team was, without a doubt, odd. Each member was part of a group of friends and brothers in arms with which they had faced many battles and many wars, and much grief, and neither of them were there. They were all new to each other, except for her.

Storm knew them all, and they knew her, and they respected her.

And she respected them.

"That is what it means to be X-Men," Ororo agreed.

It wasn't, really, not according to Charles, but as much as she respected him and his ideals, Ororo had her own. She had her own vision for her team and what they should prioritize.

When the plane loses pressure, and the oxygen masks come out, one is supposed to take care of themselves before addressing the ones they are responsible for. That was the logic behind her view of X-Men.

X-Men would not be saving anyone, least of all the world, if they can't save themselves.

"Our first mission has been successful," Ororo announced to them all. "X-Men Earth have saved the world for the first time. And believe me, it will not be the last."

Ororo looked up, closing her eyes with a heavy breath. She couldn't wait to get back to the mansion and receive some proper treatment for her wounds. They were really bothering her.

"But more importantly," Ororo added with a smile. "We lost nothing."

"I lost a bit of pride, actually. I mean, almost getting done in by _Mesmero_?" Bobby pointed out, appalled. "Of all the ways to be in trouble, seriously. And not to mention the poor man's Beast completely out-smarting-"

"Shut up, Iceman!" they all said, using different tones of frustration, but united in their protest.

* * *

**_Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time._**

_Hope you enjoyed the read, and felt the characters were well executed. Hopefully, I'll follow up with the parallel story that went on with Stark and his Avengers. And find out more about those behind K.I.A._


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